Recapish

After
the New York Mets rewrote their own history with a 12-run inning Friday night,
the Las Vegas 51s went out and put on a laser show of their own. Starter Rafael
Montero wasn’t at his best, but he found his way through 5 innings once handed
an 11-3 lead after two.

Montero
walked the first batter of the game, and it came back to burn him when he
allowed three straight hits with two outs in the frame. Mike Baxter picked up
an RBI double in the frame, and would continue to be a thorn in Montero’s side
throughout the night, finishing 3-3 with 2 doubles against him.

Brandon
Nimmo walked in his first PA to spark the first Las Vegas rally. The 51s then
caught their first of several breaks when Tacoma second baseman Chris Taylor
committed a fielding error that allowed Matt Reynolds to reach safely. Nimmo
would be thrown out at home on a fielder’s choice, but a walk to Travis
Taijeron loaded the bases for red-hot T.J. Rivera with only one out in the
frame. Rivera hit a grounder to 3B that might’ve ended the inning, but Ed Lucas
made a throwing error, allowing everyone to be safe. Marc Krauss and Gavin
Cecchini followed with RBI singles to give Las Vegas their first lead at 4-2.

A
Tacoma run in the 2nd made it a 4-3 game, but things quickly get out
of hand after that. Nimmo again sparked the rally by reaching to leadoff the 2nd,
and then the next six 51s batters would reach to make this game a laugher.
Travis Taijeron picked an RBI double to LF early in the inning. T.J. Rivera
reached on an error for the second straight inning. Cecchini added an RBI
double to LF, his second double of the season. Las Vegas would bat around for a
second straight frame, but Nimmo and Reynolds couldn’t keep things going in
their second PA of the frame.

After
a long rest, Montero actually had his best inning in the top of the 3rd,
with a Baxter single allowed the only blemish. An error opened the door for
Tacoma to score a run in the 4th inning, but Montero just kept
throwing groundballs to limit the damage.

Zack
Thornton took over for Montero in the 6th and allowed a two out, two
run homerun to Efren Navarro, but the 51s pen held Tacoma scoreless after that.
The Rainiers batters would swing at 8 Paul Sewald pitches in the 9th
inning, and they whiffed on 5 of them (63%).

This
series continues in Las Vegas Saturday night at 10:05 PM, with Seth Lugo
scheduled to return from the DL to make the start.